How to survive a Nuclear War

Throughout history we have seen countries fight amongst each other for land, resources, power etc. Countries have been created, destroyed and divided in these wars. Those wars were fought with spears, bows, swords, rifles and small bombs. But since the last war, there has been rapid advancement in weapons and strategies. Now there are powerful planes, missiles, guns but most of all nukes that can destroy our Earth. Keeping Cyber, Info and Economic war aside for the time being, lets think about a war which no one has ever seen before with nukes. Such a war in the future would be known as World War 3 or a Nuclear War. Keeping this in mind lets dive right in.

This is Earth if a Nuclear War happens.

When the Pearl harbor (an important naval harbor in Hawaii) was bombed in 1941 on December 7 by the Japanese, the United States of America decided to take revenge. The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor marked the entering of the United States of America in World War 2. Following the surrender of Germany, there was the Pacific Showdown. This was an important theatre in the World War 2. This included some of the fiercest naval and aerial battles ever. The Japanese islands needed to be conquered. Once the islands were conquered, the Americans headed for Japanese mainland. On reaching there they dropped two Atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This ended the World War then.

The United States of America’s plan to defeat Japan.

The true power of these two bombs stunned the entire world. Now imagine what would happen if such a war breaks out between countries with thousands more nukes and these nukes are far more destructive than both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Little Boy — Hiroshima, Fat Man — Nagasaki

Following the World War was the Cold War. The Cold War was a very long war between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. This war lasted from 1947 to 1991. This war was called Cold because there was no physical fighting and there weren’t major casualties. This period is the most tense period in human history as it saw major competition between two world superpowers namely the United States and Soviet Union. This was so tense because of the possibility of a Nuclear War among two superpowers. Thankfully this war was avoided when the Soviet Union broke down and formed Russia and other countries.

Communist Soviet Union vs Capitalist United States of America

Imagine if such a war would have broken out, you wouldn’t have survived nor would have your ancestors…

Let us go over the potential competitors, survival, cause and aftermath.

In such a war there are 9 countries that can be powers in the war. These are the countries that have nukes namely -
1. Russia — 6257 warheads
2. United States of America — 5600 warheads
3. China — 350 warheads
4. France — 280 warheads
5. United Kingdom — 225 warheads
6. Pakistan— 165 warheads
7. India — 160 warheads
8. Israel — 90 warheads
9. North Korea — 45 warheads

Thankfully, under the nuclear proliferation treaty the warheads have been reduced.

Signing the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty saved the world.

Lets go over the types of Nuclear Wars-

1. Limited Nuclear War — A limited nuclear war is a nuclear war in which the targets are military bases, specific locations etc. Limited NWs cause less damage and their radiation damage tends to subside quicker as only a couple of nuclear bombs are used. This can be done to capture enemy bases, as a warning or as a start to a long term one. Experts think that such wars can escalate to full out wars.
2. Full On Nuclear Wars — A Full On NW is a nuclear war in which there is mass destruction. These are far more lethal than Limited NWs as their radiation lasts for decades or centuries and till then the place is not empty of radiation. This will also cause billions of casualties. More on this later.

Now let us discuss certain reasons that can cause a nuclear war. (This will only include Full On Nuclear Wars)

1. Soviet Union Recreation — A certain reason could be the rekindling of the Soviet Union. In the Cold War the reason the countries had tension in between because of their government types. The United States of America was a capitalist country while the Soviet Union was communist. The United States tried their best to stop certain countries from turning into communist but they often failed in countries like China and Vietnam. If the Soviet Union reconverts to communist by some small organization, the world is in major danger. This can be known as the Soviet Reunion😂. (This is not my joke and we wouldn’t laugh when this would happen)
2. Illegal Land Annexation — If there are some countries that annex the land of other countries without the country’s permission and they refuse to go away in peace, the country’s option could be to use force and ward them off, this will lead to war based on which country it is whether communist or capitalist.
3. Limited Nuclear War — If a limited nuclear war lasts for long, it may convert into a full out nuclear war which will be harmful the world.
4. Small scale War aiding — If there is a war among two countries and they have communist and capitalist allies respectively the allies may choose to use Nuclear War. However according to me this is quite unlikely.

These are some reasons that can escalate into a Full Out Nuclear War.

For now we will discuss only this, we will discuss survival and aftermath in the next article. Thank you for reading.

Gathered information from various sources on the internet such as What if, Ridddle, Kurzgesagt in a Nutshell, Infographics Show, Wikipedia and Medium.